Night After Night
by ChutesandLadders
Summary: As her life takes a different path than what she expected, Livia faces challenges she ever dreamed of meeting. The danger she finds herself in only increases with each night and Livia must decide, listen to her heart or listen to her fear.


The First Night

I got off of work early. My shoulders ached dully from carrying loads of papers all day. My job, a secretary to a small family owned and operated legal firm, completely wasted my four years at Louisiana State University. If I would have known now just what I would have been doing, I wouldn't have wasted my time (or my money) on that stupid Studio Arts degree. I bit the inside of my cheek.

No, this was not where I saw myself four years ago. Heck, this isn't where I saw myself last month.

I saw myself working for a studio in Los Angeles, or at least back home in Chicago, a designer at a museum or in my dreams, and in the best dream, I was glamorously being an established and commissioned artist with a giant studio of my own.

But as it is, I couldn't even get a job with a magazine. It's too late now to realize maybe I choose the wrong path.

So here I am in Shreveport Louisiana, a place I never even considered being doing a job I vowed never to do.

I fished around my tan purse for my keys.

"Hey, Livia!" My co-worker, the owner's daughter Cindy called to me. I spun around to acknowledge her.

"Hi Cindy. What's up?" I plastered a small smile on my face. Cindy with her short sandy blonde hair and murky green eyes trapped in a sweet face was a pretty girl of twenty-two, one year my senior, had never talked much to me before besides the simple pleasantries Southerners were so accustom to. She had gone to a local college and hadn't wasted any time at becoming a paper pusher for her father.

"Well, I was just wonderin' if you wouldn't mind heading out to town tonight with me and a few gals. I know that you're new here an' all and I think it would be a real great way for you to meet people and have fun. We know _all_ the best spots to dance and drink and would just love to show ya." She was smiling genuinely, but nonetheless, a rock fell into my stomach. I was now a charity case. My first instinct was to reject her offer. I didn't want pity from anyone, and most certainly not from my boss's daughter. But I caught sight of her face again, full of kindness and hope. If I turned her down, undoubtedly she would be upset.

"Uh, when do you plan on going out?" She smile got bigger.

"Oh, well, we figured that we would all get together at my place at around ten or so." I looked down at my watch, it was eight o'clock. Certainly this was a little sudden, and I could politely excuse myself by saying I had other plans, but I had never been good at lying. I chewed on my lip.

"Where would we be going exactly?"

Her smile turned rueful.

"Well, that's a secret honey, but let's just says someplace nice to get a bite." She winked at me. "So I can count on you?"

"Sure." I found myself saying. "That sounds okay. I'll see you at ten." I didn't stop to think that going out to dinner at ten was a little strange. A lot of people go to local diners well into the early hours of the night. When I was in college I used to do that a lot myself with a big group of friends.

I drove to my small one bedroom apartment, about fifteen minutes away. Nothing greeted me when I walked in. I flicked on the light switch with a sigh. I pulled out a leftover bean –dill salad from the fridge and devoured it. To help wash it down, I drank my milk right from the carton. A light snack, but only because I knew I was going out to eat with Cindy and her friends later. Then I peeled off my tired blouse and skirt and hopped into the shower, relaxing myself with the hot water.

Before I knew it, it was ten thirty and I was on my way to Cindy's following the directions she gave me. She had a house, a small one story, but a house nonetheless. I couldn't make it out much, but I was sure it was a charming pale yellow and as from what I could tell her small lawn and garden were in top notch shape. I straightened out my white dress and walked up to the door. I could hear laughter rising up from behind the door. I inhaled deeply and knocked.

Cindy answered. Her round face was down up with dark makeup and her curvy body was hugged by a tight dark purple dress. She looked stunning, if not overly done up for going out to eat with a bunch of friends. In fact, the other three girls were similarly dressed and made up. I tugged up my hair anxiously. I had left my face clean of makeup figuring a quite night out at a diner or something required nothing special.

"Liv," I tried not to wince when she used that too often repeated shorting of my name. "I'm glad you made it."

I just smiled. We hadn't even gone out yet and already I felt exceptionally out of place.

"Jane here will be the DD, we already decided." Cindy began, but I cut her off quickly.

"I can drive." I rushed. From the way I was feeling, I very much liked the idea of being in control of when we left.

"Aw, thanks for offering sweetie, but I can't drink anyways. I always feel downright awful the next day and I need to get my crazy kids ready to go see their Pa in Monroe tomorrow mornin' so I don't mind the least bit. Plus my car is one of them fancy SUV's." Her smile looked as fake as her big blonde hair. I contained my sigh as much as I could.

"Liv," I just barely managed not to wince, it seems Cindy went through the trouble of introducing me to everyone like that. "Would you like some whiskey before we head out?" The woman, Tanya, who asked me already looked tipsy.

I accepted her offer. I might as well get drunk to help pass the night.

By the time we left Cindy's home, my cheeks we already hot from alcohol and I felt more at ease than I had all evening.

There is nothing more sobering than standing outside a place you never ever wanted to be.

I was pretty sure my heart had stopped beating the moment my eyes took in the blood red letters _Fangtasia. _

"Cindy?" My lips quivered. She was smiling and laughing with her friends.

"Yeah hun?" She took one look at me and frowned. "Are you scared?"

"Not scared… I just think it's very stupid to go to a watering hole when you're the water." She laughed.

"Come on! Don't be like that. They've got TruBlood now and all. They don't drink from humans anymore."

"I don't want to go in there." I flatly determined.

"Have you ever met a vampire before?" Jane saying the word out loud made ice enter every bone in my body. I shook my head sternly. I wanted it to say that way. "Then why do you judge 'em?"

"I'm not judging anyone. It's a fact they need to drink blood to survive. We all happen to have six quarts running through our bodies constantly."

"Whatever," Someone, a ginger head, Emily I think said. "She's obviously terrified, let's-"

"I am not scared." I said pointedly, glaring at my shoes. Being smart and being scared are two completely different things.

"Then why don't you prove it?" Jane's eyes danced merrily as I stormed toward the long line waiting to get into to the infamous club.

Seconds stretched into long minutes until our small group reached the door. A middle age blonde female decked out in tight black leather was checking ID's. I begrudgingly handed her mine. She didn't look over the ID nearly as much as she looked over me.

"Well, hello, aren't you just lovely." She made a point of sniffing the air around me. "Mmm." She drew out her mms longer than necessary to exaggerate her point. My heart skipped a few dozen necessary beats. She smiled at me, fangs extended. "Please do enjoy yourself tonight."

She checked the rest of our group with only an uneasy comment to Cindy. "Ah, it's a pleasure to see you here again, darling."

We settled down at an open booth. I couldn't help but fidget nervously. Everything around me was black or some color dark enough to resemble it. I couldn't help but feel so out of place in my stark white frock. I also couldn't help but notice the eyes that trailed me, undoubtedly because I stuck out like a sore thumb dressed as I was.

I took some deep breaths and a few heavy sips of the too-sweet drink in front of me. I let my eyes scan my surroundings. The bar looked like you would expect a vampire bar to look like, and it almost went overboard with the gothic surroundings. I very nearly found it tacky but with a closer examination, I could see vampires dancing, sitting or standing around either regarding earnestly or completely ignoring the people around them. It was easy to pick them out because there was usually a crowd of desperate souls around them, people called 'fang bangers' and besides that, they were just different, they gave a strange undesirable feeling when I looked at them.

My attention was quickly moved to the center of the bar. Reclining in a chair rested maybe the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. His golden hair framed his sculpted face where bright blue eyes popped out alluringly. He was more than just gorgeous.

Jane, the bottle blonde was at his feet, whispering something to him.

Next to me, I overheard something crazy.

"I wonder if we could get some V from anyone here. I need some _real_ bad." Cindy whispered to Emily. My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Not only were these girls stupid enough to willingly go into a vampire bar, they also drank vampire blood? And to make it all worse, they were searching for this drug of choice in a bar filled to the brim with vampires.

I cursed myself a thousand times over for allowing myself to be dragged into this mess.

My attention was drawn back to Jane as she screamed in a fit. She stomped back to us, the stunning blonde's eyes on her in amusement. She threw herself down next to me and took my drink, chugging it. I didn't pay much mind because those bright eyes had glued themselves to mine.

The corners of his sensuous lips lifted ever so slightly in a playful, interested manner.

A sudden urge gripped me to walk up to him, kneel before him and offer myself to him just as Jane had done. I found myself getting out of the booth and making bold steps toward the man just when panic seized my heart.

What on earth was I doing?

I abruptly turned away from the beckoning eyes and made a beeline for the exit. My hands fumbled in my purse for my cell phone as I called a cab.

I sent a sloppy text to Cindy telling her that I was leaving.

I didn't note the pair of eyes watching me get in the cab with a perplexed and bemused expression.

When I finally got home, I locked my doors and my windows and crashed onto my bed. I didn't fall asleep, no, my mind was too muddled, and in the back of my head the blonde man, sitting on his throne kept beckoning me to recall his eyes, the exact color of his hair, his tilted smile…

Just who was he?

A vampire.

The thought came to mind in a second. I must have been thinking it before and even though I didn't want to believe it, I had to. There was no other explanation. I chewed my lower lip anxiously and tossed around in my bed.

I didn't want t believe I could be attracted so strongly by a random stranger. It wasn't right that just glimpsing at the man should affect me so. It wasn't right that the man was really a vampire.

I didn't want to believe that I could be so attracted to something so dead.


End file.
